When you live and own property such as bank accounts, cars or real estate in Thailand, it is advisable to think about your estate. Indeed, the last residence of the deceased will be the Thai law that will govern your estate. The transfer of your property to your heirs in the presence or not of a will, the opening of an estate and the costs associated with it will be dealt with successively.
The devolution of your property and the choice of your heir or heirs In the absence of a will, the Thai Civil and Commercial Code will apply. Section 1629 provides for 6 classes of statutory heirs: 1- The descendants 2- The parents 3- The Brothers and Sisters 4- Half-brothers and sisters 5- The grandparents 6- Aunts and uncles
The surviving spouse is also a statutory heir since he will share: - an equal share of the inheritance with the descendants, - Half of the heritage with parents and siblings - 2/3 of the estate of the deceased when the half-brothers and sisters, grandparents and uncles and aunts are statutory heirs. It should be noted that an heir of a lower class cannot inherit if there is a surviving heir within a higher class. In the absence of a will, if the deceased has no relatives, all his property will go to the Thai State.
When you write your will, the distribution of your property and assets is free. You can design your heirs freely. Indeed, there is no hereditary reserve in Thailand. The hereditary reserve in French law is a portion of the estate which is reserved to the heirs protect, reservists. Concretely, one cannot in France totally disinherit one of his children. However, the absence of a hereditary reserve in a foreign country is not considered to be contrary to international public policy, so your Thai testament will be valid.
Your will in order to be indisputable and the steps facilitated for your heirs must be as precise as possible. For this purpose, When you write your will with our firm Opera Consulting, the property titles of your assets and contracts, the passports of your heirs and executors will be requested from you.
The opening of the succession: The opening of an estate in a Thai court must be done within one year of the death of the testator, there is no fee to pay to the court. The heir will file a petition to appoint an administrator. The court will give power to the administrator to transfer the assets to the heir. It will be a judicial and administrative procedure, it is recommended to be accompanied by a local law firm. A testator will be appointed by the judge, which will take nearly 8 months in the absence of a will, and the estate of the deceased will be the subject of an inventory. A family tree of the deceased will be set up to identify his heirs who, in the absence of a will, will have to prove the legitimacy of inheriting the deceased’s property.
To be noted: In the case of a life insurance contract, the beneficiary will be mentioned directly. . A condominium: The condominium Act within its section 19/4 provides that if a building has a percentage of foreign owners greater than 49%, the inherited unit will have to be sold within 1 year. . A leasehold contract: if the Leasehold contract contains an "inheritance clause" the heir can receive the right, keep it and pursue the leasehold.
. A land in full ownership: a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand, he will not be able to register the property and it will be necessary to sell it within a year. In the case of properties located in Thailand and France, it is advisable to make two separate wills.
Taxation In Thailand, successions of less than 100 million THB are not taxed. Nevertheless, there are costs which, without being directly related to the estate, will have to be paid directly to the land register by the heirs when taking possession of the immovable property and if they wish to proceed with their sale. The costs to be paid on the day of the transfer to the land registry, according to the rates in force, amount to 2% of the value of the property. If the heir is a descendant of a spouse, the rate will be 0.5%.
Once the property has been registered in the land registry, the heir being mentioned as the owner on the back of the title will be able if he wishes to proceed with the sale of the property. At the time of the sale, the heir will be liable to the cadastre taxes related to this new transfer of ownership amounting to approximately 4.5 and 7% depending on the case.
This article is a general information note that does not replace the board for any individual situation. The contents of this document cannot make the firm liable in the event of a different application by the tax authorities.